


Kissing Strangers

by queenmidalah



Series: #freedom [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:26:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22609255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenmidalah/pseuds/queenmidalah
Summary: Mixed signals happen
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Jemma Simmons
Series: #freedom [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1626394
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	Kissing Strangers

Despite Bucky's murmured insistence of things not being over, he quickly realized that Jemma intended on avoiding him. He started to wonder if maybe he had picked up the cues wrong and that she may have wanted to kiss him in that one instance, it didn't mean that she wanted him in the way he wanted her. So instead of pushing her, he let her be and instead allowed Natasha to get her fill of matchmaking by letting her set him up on dates.

But each one fizzled after the first couple of dates. The moment he shared a single kiss with each prospective woman, he had no desire to pursue those paths further. None of them were who he truly wanted to be with. Yet he still went on the dates, hoping that maybe a spark would ignite with *one* of them and it would go past date two.

Natasha was getting frustrated after the first couple of months when it seemed that no one was a good match for the super-soldier. Steve had suggested that maybe it wasn't as easy as she thought, considering the life experiences Bucky had were vastly different in comparison with those Natasha was attempting to set him up with. Her sharp quip had been to remind him that Natasha had very different life experiences from Steve, yet they made it work. His retort had been to remind her that it took her death to kick his ass into gear and not lose his second chance when they found a loophole with the Soul Stone.

Bucky had just gotten home from another failed date and, instead of going straight to the kitchen for some alcohol as he normally did, he headed to his room to change into a pair of workout pants and headed to the gym to work off some of the frustration he felt. Deep down he knew why none of Natasha's matchmaking attempts were working. None of them were Jemma Simmons. Despite all that he was trying to do, he couldn't get the biochemist out of his mind. After an hour of boxing and working up a good sweat, he grabbed a towel and began wiping the sweat of his bare chest as he left the gym to head to the kitchen for the beer he normally had after a failed date.

As soon as he stepped into the kitchen, he paused, seeing the one person who had been avoiding him and he had been trying to get over with little success. She was eating from a pint of ice cream, but the spoon paused halfway to her mouth as she saw him, eyes riveted to his glistening chest.

"Didn't realize anyone was in here," he said softly, his tone apologetic.

"I thought you were on a date," Jemma said, shoving the spoon into her mouth with a bit more force than she obviously intended as she winced when the spoon clanged against her teeth.

"If you want to call it that," Bucky said. "Didn't last long and I took her home." He walked over to the refrigerator and opened it, pulling out a bottle of water instead of beer. He wanted to keep his wits about him with Jemma in the room, not that most of the liquor they kept around did anything to him or Steve. 

"Seems to be happening a lot," Jemma said. "You've had quite a few dates over the past few months."

"Keeping score?" Bucky asked, arching an eyebrow at her.

"No," she was quick to answer. "Just... observing."

"Interesting observation," Bucky said, opening the water bottle and taking a drink. Even with his head tilted to do so, he saw Jemma's eyes move to him once more, studying him with an odd glint in her eyes.

"None of them work?" Jemma asked.

"Nope," Bucky said.

"Why?" Jemma asked.

Bucky's eyebrow arched more as he set the bottle down, a hand moving to rest on his hip where his pants hung low. "Why do you want to know?" he asked.

"I just... do," Jemma said lamely, looking into the pint of ice cream.

"Why?" Bucky asked again. "I want a reason."

Jemma scoffed. "Forget I even asked," she said. She started moving off the stool she sat on when Bucky caught her wrist in his right hand.

"No, you have a reason, I want to know," he said. "Especially since you made it damn clear you had no interest in me and have been avoiding me. Why does it matter to you that I am going on dates?"

"I haven't been avoiding you!" Jemma protested.

"Yes, you have," Bucky said. "Ever since that day after our almost kiss and I called you out on it, you ran from the room, and avoided me ever since."

"I didn't run," Jemma said.

"Fine, you scurried, and stop dodging what I am saying and asking," Bucky said. "Why, Jemma? Why are you so interested in me going on dates?"

"Because!" Jemma said, jerking her arm out of his grasp. "Because you told me that day you wanted me and then suddenly you are... you are going out with others!"

"You've been avoiding me!" Bucky said, his voice rising. "You purposely made it your task since that day to *not* be around me. I took that as a clear sign that what I felt was not returned by you so I let Natasha set me up, but..." He turned away, frustrated as he pushed his metal fingers through his sweat-dampened hair.

"But what?" Jemma asked softly. She watched the muscles in his back shift and tense before his head turned as if he was glancing back towards her over his shoulder.

"I can't keep kissing strangers and pretending that they're you," he said.

"Wh... what?" Jemma whispered.

Bucky turned, his blue eyes sad. "None of them are you," he said. "I keep trying to push aside the feelings I have for you and move on, but I can't seem to. They aren't you and you are who I want."

"Bu--," Jemma started.

"But I know you don't feel the same, so I have to learn to live with that." Bucky took the water bottle from the counter and started toward the kitchen door. He registered the sound of bare feet hurrying across the tile before he was being turned around. Before he could completely react, Jemma was pulling his dark head towards hers and pressing her lips to his. The bottle in his hand fell from his fingers as they curled against her hips and he pulled her tighter to him, his brain catching up fast enough to return the kiss before she could pull away.

By the time they finally did part, they were both breathless. Jemma pressed her forehead to his, taking a moment before speaking.

"I do feel the same," Jemma whispered. "I just didn't know how to tell you."

A soft smile slipped across Bucky's lips. "Well, doll, this is certainly a good way to tell me," he said. "Sometimes I can be a bit slow, so actions work just as well." Jemma only grinned before kissing him again.


End file.
